Ghana’s Under-17 coach, Paa Kwasi Fabian has said he disagrees with a Switzerland report by International Centre for Sports Studies that placed Ghana as second country involved in age-cheating (CEIS) in youth football after Nigeria and Cameroon.
Ghana was ranked second worst African nation found culpable for massive age-cheating in a report by Switzerland based Centre for Sports Studies.
But Speaking to A1 Radio, Coach Fabian vehemently disagreed with the report.
“I don’t think I agree with them. Well, that is their opinion and like it is said; opinions are like noses, everybody has one. They have expressed their opinion but I don’t agree with them, it is not true,” he said.
Coach Fabian indicated that, since his tenure started with the introduction of the MRI machine, they have always fielded players who are been picked by the MRI and that shows that Ghana is not indulged in age-cheating.
He added that in his first African Championship, Ghana was the only team that had all her players cleared by the MRI system, when all other countries had their players sent back home for age cheating.
He indicated that fourteen players who took part in last year’s under-20 World Cup transitioned from the under-17 side which is an attestation of the fact that Ghana is not involved in age cheating.
However, Sports Journalist Saddick Adams popularly known as Sports Obama believes age cheating in youth football in Ghana and Africa has been an age old canker that has lived with us and there is no need for a research to tell us that.
He mentioned that Ghanaians think of the short term success and satisfaction rather than the long term development of youth football. He added that players who played for Ghana in the 2009 World Cup have eloped into thin air because most of them cheated with their age.
“Where is Dominic Adiyiah, Rabiu Mohammed, Saddick Adams and Ransford Osei? These were players who were tipped to hit the international market a year after winning the world cup but where are they; they have grown old and are not making strides,” he said.
Obama however blamed the phenomenon on economic reasons saying “parents will do anything to get their children with potentials enlisted in the youth teams in order to better their lives but was quick to add that honesty on the part of parents is the only recipe for fighting the age old canker and also help develop the sport of football in the country.
By Offei-Akoto Ayeh | A1RADIOONLINE.com | GHANA
